Does Jay Gruden deserve credit for keeping Redskins afloat?

Typically, Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden is the subject of hot-seat speculation.

Gruden, after all, has been coach of the Redskins since 2014 and has more than eight wins in a season once with a single NFC East win and playoff berth to boot.

But Pro Football Talk’s Darin Gantt has suggested it should perhaps go in the other direction, as he said on the Redskins Talk Podcast (h/t Ryan Homler of NBC Sports Washington):

“I have always come down of the side, maybe, of guys who are doing more with less. I think Jay has done a pretty good job keeping things in the middle….When things get sideways a Jim Zorn can lose control in a hurry. I feel like Jay just got sort of a steady hand on the wheel.”

Maybe this is part of the thinking within the Redskins front office, which hasn’t blinked much when it comes to Gruden’s job status despite most recently only going 7-9 over the last two seasons.

And indeed, Gruden has had to deal with plenty of adversity while serving as head coach. Over those past two seasons, few rosters have been plagued with more injuries.

Still, most coaches wouldn’t be afforded the same leash and one has to think Gruden remains firmly on the hot seat in 2019 — especially if his roster remains relatively healthy and things don’t start trending in an upward manner.